Withdrawn from all of its cliche attachments, this saying has always resonated with me through my adventures. Traveling can be fun. Traveling can be scary. Traveling can be hard. Why do we do it?
I learned from a fairly young age that traveling offered a far greater learning value than any classroom could ever yield. I usually accredit my degree in journalism to this note. It got me out of the classroom and into the real world.
I left home Tuesday morning, yet again in search of adventure, headed toward Philadelphia, attempting to write a chapter of my own story. With nine Phish shows on the horizon, I am attempting to live vicariously through all of the travel stories I read growing up depicting the lives of folks living on the road following the Grateful Dead or Phish.
With the faintest buzz lingering in my body from two PBR's on an empty stomach, I walked through the gates of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts alongside 15,000 of my fellow Phish friends, or "Phriends," if you will.
The threat of an early summer storm had vanished. The sun dipped beneath the trees on the western front. The band emerged on stage at 8:11 p.m. as Trey Anastasio subtly bounced around the stage in excitement for his hometown crowd
He strapped his guitar over his left shoulder and within two chords he had over 15,000 people erupting in the highly interactive tune, "Wilson."For the 40th time, I was apart of a this musical experiment that is 30-years in the making. Every fresh note that vibrated through the cavernous pavilion had me at peace. The band weaved in and out of funk and bluegrass numbers through the course of the first set before ending on a fast pace, "Suzy Greenberg."
A few of us nestled atop the lawn during set break as we took in the glowing Philadelphia skyline to the east. I'm always grateful for the places and cities Phish pushes me too. They're different in every regard and put me in spots I may have never seen. Being my first time at the Mann, I was in awe of the set break scenery. It doesn't get much better than that.
As the house lights dipped, a tepid, "Fuego" clocked in around 17-minutes before giving way to a surprising second set, "Runaway Jim." A danceable "Gotta Jiboo" caffeinated the pavilion as a glow stick war began! "Timber" surely served as last night's crowd anthem as you could barely hear the band in the background. Night time temperatures had begun to cool off the poorly-ventilated pavilion as things melodically slowed down with a, "Slave to the Traffic Light."
"You Enjoy Myself," boldly predicted in the first set by my friend, Glenn capped off night one in Philly. An amazing and eventful start to my run. More to come, Philly night two on deck>
-Stephen
